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Tag Archives: Sexual Abuse

The UK government has finally published its updated statutory guidance for sex education, relationships and health education. From September 2020 these subjects will become mandatory subject matter to be taught in all registered schools in the UK, be they public, private fee-paying, State-run, independent, religiously affiliated or not.

At secondary school level parents will no longer have the right to withdraw their children from these lessons, which include such things as teaching about contraception and abortion as “choices in relation to pregnancy.”

The new rules, which will come into nationwide force in 18 months time, envisage all pupils to have been taught LGBT+ content “at a timely point” during relationships and sex education.

Concerned parents are preparing to permanently take their children out of school to teach them at home and to make use of private tutors (often retired teachers) to teach subject matter they’re unable to teach themselves. Concerned parents all over the country are saying that homeschooling will now become an absolute necessity rather than a mere option for their children’s education and well-being.

A nationwide survey of Local Education Authorities conducted a year ago found that nearly 50,000 children were already being home-schooled in the UK, a rise of over 40% from three-years previously.

“We are on the front lines of combat, facing a jihadist mercenary group called Séléka, financed by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. They’ve come to Central Africa to conquer it, to put their claws in the country’s gold, mercury, cobalt and coltan.”

“Coltan is a key geostrategic material. The largest producer of coltan in the world is the Democratic Republic of Congo and the largest seller of coltan is Rwanda, which steals everything from Congo. Coltan is used in the production of phones and computers, but also weapons, nuclear missiles and drones.

Saudi Arabia tries to destabilize the country using religion as a ruse. In the world there are millions of non-radical, moderate Muslims who have understood the Quran and live it as a religion of peace. But there are radical groups … in Nigeria there is Boko Haram, in Mali there is Ansar, in Central Africa there is Séléka and in Somalia, al-Shabaab, which has attacked a lot in Kenya. All of these are radical groups like ISIS that are being formed with the logistical help of the Muslim countries with petrodollars. They use religion as a smoke-screen and make radicals fight against non-Muslims in wars that have done a lot of damage.”

On clerical sex abuse:

“In my opinion, there are three reasons for this crisis. The first is the entrance of homosexual priests to the seminary, who have lived their homosexuality within the Church in the 1970s to the 1990s. Secondly, the arrival of Internet, through which the negative impulses of many priests have been awakened. Thirdly, there are priests who do not occupy their time well, who have too much free time and let themselves be tempted by the devil.”

Sensationalist headlines in the mass media, repeated ad nauseam all over social media, give fuel to anti-Catholic bigotry and encourage physical attacks, abuse and discrimination against ordinary Catholics as well as Catholic clergy and religious.

Just recently a Catholic priest, Fr. Basil Hutsko, whom it should be stressed has never been accused of any sexual crime, was attacked and beaten unconscious in the sacristy of his church in Indiana, USA. The attacker reportedly said when launching the attack, “this is for all the kids”, in reference to the lurid and unrepresentative coverage in the media.

So, actually, how common is child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church according to the official data from independent investigative reports? And how does it compare to child sexual abuse in society as a whole?

We can get a very good idea by comparing the number of victims identified in independent investigations with the length of the period under investigation and the number of Catholics who experienced their childhood years during that period. By doing so we learn the approximate percentage of Catholic children who suffer sexual abuse in an institution like a school, church or orphanage run by the Catholic Church.

The extensive 2004 John Jay College of Criminal Justice investigation, covering the entire USA, found that there were 10,667 reported cases of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions over a 52-year period. It can reasonably be said that during that 52-year period at least half of the seventy-million-strong Catholic population of the USA went through their childhood years. In other words, the official data records that approximately 0.03% of Catholic children in the USA were victims of sexual abuse in Catholic institutions over a period of fifty-two years.

Staying in the USA, the very recent Pennsylvania Grand Jury investigation reported that 1,000 children were recorded as victims of sexual abuse in Catholic institutions in Pennsylvania over a 70-year period. With seventy years being roughly the average length of a human lifetime it can reasonably be said that three-million, two-hundred thousand children, which is the size of the Catholic population of Pennsylvania, went through their childhood during this seventy-year period. In other words, the official data records that approximately 0.03% of Catholic children in Pennsylvania were victims of sexual abuse in Catholic institutions over a period of seventy years.

In Ireland, the extensive Commission to Enquire into Child Abuse revealed in its Final Report in 2009 that, over a thirty-four year period, 170,000 children passed through Industrial and Reformatory schools run by the Catholic Church. A total of 369 people made complaint to the Commission during its nine-year-long confidential investigation that they had suffered sexual abuse in these institutions. In other words, the official data records that 0.2% of Catholic children in Ireland were victims of sexual abuse in Catholic institutions over a period of thirty-four years.

Finally, in Australia, another extensive investigation, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, found that 4,444 claimants reported sexual abuse in Catholic institutions. This was recorded over a period of 35 years, which is approximately half a lifetime. The Catholic population of Australia is 5,440,000 and it can reasonably be said that roughly half that number of Catholics experienced childhood during the 35-year period under investigation. So, in other words, the official data records that approximately 0.16%.of Catholic children in Australia were victims of sexual abuse in Catholic institutions over a period of thirty-five years.

It’s often claimed that many victims of sexual abuse don’t report it through fear, or embarrassment, or for other reasons, so the true number of victims will be higher. Unfortunately, whilst this may well be true, we cannot know it if they are not reported and recorded. If a guess is made as to what percentage of victims do not report child sexual abuse the same rule and measurement must also apply to the officially recorded data for child sexual abuse in the rest of society.

Horrifically, the U.K.-based National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) records a study published in 2000 by Cawson et al, called ‘Child Maltreatment in the United Kingdom: A Study of the Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect’. The extensive study records that an enormous 16% of children under sixteen-years of age suffer sexual abuse.

In the USA, Rind et al found in 1998 in a meta-analytical study compiled from 23 independent studies, that between 22% and 23% of children under eighteen-years of age suffer sexual abuse

So, the next time you come across an anti-Catholic bigot trying to whip-up hatred against Catholics and against Catholicism, using clerical sexual abuse as an excuse, be sure to make use of the facts and figures from the official data to demolish the myths and the lies that are being used in an attempt to overwhelm and undermine Catholicism. Be sure to point out that child sexual abuse is a hundred times worse, or even thousands of times worse, in so-called “normal” society than it is in institutions run by the Catholic Church.

As the famous Catholic convert G.K. Chesterton once said: “When people impute special vices to the Christian Church, they seem entirely to forget that the world (which is the only other thing there is) has these vices much more.”

The 900-page investigative report of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury that examined more than half-a-million internal documents of dioceses in Pennsylvania, USA, discovered that 1,000 children had been sexually abused over a seventy-year period.

The report, which was released on 14th August 2018, identified 301 priests responsible for abusing at least 1000 victims.

These horrific crimes should be dealt with as they were in the Catholic past, with sentences including the death penalty being administered to convicted perpetrators.

But, in contradiction to the lurid headlines and disgusting stories liberally circulated by Mass Media and assorted anti-Catholic bigots who never miss a chance to slander and incite hatred against Catholics or the Catholic religion, the actual data revealed by this thorough independent review should be welcomed by Catholics and put into proper perspective.

Just as with previous analyses of official data undertaken by The Saint George Educational Trust, the Pennsylvania Grand Jury actually proves that Catholic institutions are still a far, far, safer environment for children to be in than the rest of society.

The latest report covers a period of 70 years, which is basically a human lifetime. So, the report essentially covers the lifetime of the entire Catholic population of Pennsylvania.

There are over three-million, two-hundred-thousand Catholics in Pennsylvania. Approximately one-thousand of them became victims of sexual abuse by clergy.

In other words, around 0.03 percent of Catholic children in Pennsylvania suffered sexual abuse at the hands of clergy.

Outside of the Catholic environment, official independent studies show that in the USA around a quarter of all children under eighteen – nearly 25% – are victims of sexual abuse.

As G.K. Chesterton famously said: “When people impute special vices to the Christian Church, they seem entirely to forget that the world (which is the only other thing there is) has these vices much more.”

Recently released data shows what every parent left with any moral sense in this insane post-Christian country knows: if you send your daughter to a secular school you’re sending her for slaughter in the Meat Market.

A Parliamentary Inquiry is now underway after data published in September 2015 showed that 5,500 sexual offences were recorded in UK schools over a three year period, including 600 rapes. A 2010 YouGov poll of 16-18 year olds found 29% of girls experienced unwanted sexual touching at school and a further 71% said they heard sexual name-calling towards girls at school daily or a few times per week.

“I’m worried about the effect that society is having on my daughter and the lack of control the education system seems to have on the situation. As a mother you just want to protect them, I’d rather home school her so she doesn’t have to be part of that.”

Research and analyses of official data, conducted by The Saint George Educational Trust, regarding Child Sexual Abuse reveals that by far the largest number of cases of child sexual abuse involving Catholic clergy have been recorded in the USA.

Over a 42-year period there were 10,667 cases of child sexual abuse and 81% of that sexual abuse was suffered by boys under eighteen years of age. [The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 2004].

Approximately one-quarter of the population of the USA is nominally Catholic – that is seventy million people. If the reasonable assumption is made that half of the Catholic population passed through childhood during this 42-year period then 0.03% of Catholic children suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy.

In Ireland, over a 34-year period, more than one hundred and seventy thousand children passed through Industrial and Reformatory Schools run by the Catholic Church. Of this number a total of 369 people, 242 males and 127 females, made complaint to the Irish Child Abuse Commission during its nine-year investigation that they had suffered sexual abuse. [Final Report, Commission to Enquire into Child Abuse, Dublin, 2009].

The incidence rate is 0.2%. Of the accused perpetrators 45% were Catholic clergy or religious, and 55% were visiting professionals, hired staff, family members or other pupils.

In stark contrast, in Secular Society:

In the UK an average of 16% of children under sixteen years of age suffer sexual abuse, 17% of boys and 28% of girls, in a secular environment. [Cawson et al, 2000, Child Maltreatment in the United Kingdom: A Study of the Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect. London, NSPCC, page 85].

In the USA 22%-23% of children under eighteen years of age suffer sexual abuse, 17% of boys and 28% of girls, in a secular environment. These are average rates compiled from 23 independent studies. [Rind et al, 1998, A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using college Samples; Psychological Bulletin 124: pages 22-53].

9.6% of students suffer sexual abuse in secular US schools. [Shakeshaft, Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of the Literature, US Dept. of Education, 2004].

In summary we can say that the official statistics prove beyond any doubt that, contrary to pernicious media stories, the sexual abuse of children is hundreds of times more prevalent in Secular Society than it is in the Catholic Church.